With the current rate of growth in the technology industry, it begs the question “why should small businesses adopt new technologies in favor of old, outdated methods and procedures?” While there are many hurdles to adopting new technologies, including legal, financial and ethical concerns, there is also considerable growth opportunity when new technologies are adopted. As businesses choose to adopt new technologies, new doors will open doors, improve efficiency and increase productivity.
According to a case study by MIT Sloan, 63% of business executives and managers agreed that “the pace of technology change in their organization [was] too slow.” With so many new advancements readily available, why do more than half of these professionals feel that the pace is slow? Individual employees may feel that it is too difficult to learn new processes that require more effort or attention due to change in procedure. This trend can be solved as businesses push forward and encourage their employees to innovate.
Adopting the new technologies available will aid employees to improve efficiency, for example, saving on time consuming, tedious tasks like data entry and letting a machine do the heavy lifting instead. Moreover, when new technologies are introduced, downtime is decreased and time money spent on payroll will be that much more efficient. Employees will, in turn, spend more time on projects which require human interaction and intuition, like one-on-one phone calls, follow-up emails, sales pitches and maybe even just remembering a client’s birthday. These actions, albeit seemingly easier and maybe to some, less important, still have an important role to play in the success of a small business.
Business owners need their operations as economical as possible so that margins can be kept tight to turn profits and keep the cash flow coming. These technologies may come at a certain cost and may even appear to be prohibitive, however with proper financing the return on investment can lead to greater revenue without drastically increasing payroll costs. For example, a company making candles may have people who melt and mold the wax together, but they are limited only to how many workers they can fit on a line at one time. In contrast, with the advancement of a robotic machine, candle-making can take far less time and give each employee more opportunity to promote and sell the product.
When business owners are considering whether or not technological advancement in their industry is right for their organization, they should always consider their accountant’s advice and wisdom. If you and your organization have been thinking about making any investments or upgrades, please let our team at JTC CPAs help you make the right choice for your business. Call JTC CPAs today!